Acetylene-generator.



G. L. FREETO.

ACETYLENE GENERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 7. I9I2.

Patented J une 1, 1915.

GEO/P615 FEE To wITNEssEs 7% (A).

NVENTOR Byngwa.

ATTORNEY ,GEORGE L. FETQ, 0F MECHANICSBURG, ILLINOIS.

acumulan-GENERATOR.

Application led December 7, 1912. 4Serial-lilo. 735,545.

T0 all ech-om t `may lconcern Be it vknown that I, GEQRGE L. FREETO, acitizen o-f the United States, residing at Mechanicsburg, in the countyof Sangamon and 'State of Illinois, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Acetylene- Generators, of which the following is aSpecification.

'My invention relates to acetylene generators, especially to the typeknown as pit generators or generators whichare sunk or set into theground. n

An object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary means to supply aquantity of calcium carbid to a generator upon the eX- haustion ofthe-main supply.

A further object of the invention 1s to generally improve theconstruction of a device of this kind.

The preferred embodiment of my invention is :hereinafter described landillustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In these drawings :QFigu-re 1 is a vertical sectional view of mygenerator. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the supply hopper and the auxiliaryhopperand, Fig. 3 is a detail sectional .View illustrating the auxiliaryhopperl in connection with the main hopper, which is partly broken away.

vReferring to the drawings, the generator is located or sunk in a pitand comprises a main tank 1, between which and the earth, is provided asuitable cement casing 2. Said tank is rovided with a cover 3 removablysecured in -any suitable manner, as by means of .engagement with a hookor hooks 4: and a staple 5, which may be engaged by a padlock or thelike to lock the cover.- Within the tank 1 is secured a smaller watercontaining tank 5 on which rests a calcium carbid supply hopper 8,vwhose bottom is fiuinel-sha-ped, terminating in a tube 9, to which ispivoted a nozzle such as 10 which has a weight 11 attached thereto. Asuitable rod l2 which extends above the hopper, is pivoted to .thenozzle 10 at a point designated as 42. Below the nozzle 10, and securedto the bottom of supply hopper 8 is a shoe such as 13. A suitable crossarm`14 is secured in the hopper 8, and has extending therefrom rearwardarms 15 to which is pivoted at 16, an auxiliary hopper 17.

Adjacent the hopper 17 is pivoted a tray -18 at 19, which tray normallybears against the hopper 17, and one wall 20 of which hopper 17 preventsthe discharge of the conlSpecification of Letters Patent. A

Patented J une 1, 115.

tents of the tray. A wire or 'rod such as21 is secured to .the hopper17, one end of rod 21 being attached to wall 20 of hopper 17, the centerof said rod being secured to the opposite wall of hopper 17 and theother end terminating at a point adjacent the top of hopper 8. A hook 22provided on a suitable bent wire 23, projects through an elongated slotprovided in the hopper 8 and engages the tray 18, as shown. Said wire 23at the opposite end terminates in a handle portion 24 located adjacentthe top of the generator.

, A suitable purifier device is provided inside of tank 51 and consistsof a' receptacle 25 adapted tol contain hair, wool or other suitablepurifying agent, and is provided with a :perforated cover 26. Thereceptacle 25 is secured to a suitable pipe 27 located within the tank5', which pipe is connected to a pipe 28 by means of a cross pipe 29. Apipe 30 -leading to a building, storage tank or the like, is connectedto the ,pipe 28. At the top of pipe 28, adjacent the top of thegenerator, is provided any suitable form of cut off valve `32.

The numeral 37 designates a suitable removable bell adapted to inclosethe hopper 8, and extend part way over tank 5. Said bell at its top isprovided with an outlet 39 having a cut off 'valve 38 therein. A handle40 for the bell, is suitably pivoted vertically to the top of the bell,and at one end is connected to the valve 38 so that in addition to beinga handle, the member 40 is an Iactuating member for the valve 38.

In operation, .water is V,supplied to the outer tank 1 and water tank 5.Calcium carbid is supplied to the hopper 8, auxiliary hopper 17, andauxiliary hopper 18. Valves 38 and 32 are closed, and the cover 3 lockedin place. The calcium carbid is supplied through the tube 9 and nozzle10 onto the shoe 13, falling into the water contained within the tank5', whereupon a chemical reaction takes place between the calcium carbidand water, producing acetylene gas. Said gas rises andits only escapefrom the .generator lis through the perforated cover 26 of the purifier.After passing through said cover 26, the gas also passes through thepurifying medium in the receptacle 25 and out through pipes 27, 29, 28and 30 to a building or suitable storage. When the supply of gas becomeslow in the generator, the bell 37 descends. In so doing the same strikesagainst the rod 12 and actuates the nozzle 10 about the pivoting point41, and moves the weighted side thereof upwardly so as to increase theextent of the supply opening between tubes 9 and shoe 13, whereby thecalcium carbid may be fed more rapidly. vWhen the gas volume "increases,the bell moves upwardly and disengages the rod 12, whereupon the Weight11 will restore the same to normal position, which is the position shownin Fig. 1. When the supply of calcium carbid has become eX- hausted thebell is in its lowermost position and rests upon the top of the hopper8, depressing the `rod 12. When the exhaustion of the calcium carbid inhopper 8 occurs, the cover 3 is removed andthe rod 24 is pulled upwardlywhich causes the hook 22 to disv engage from. supporting relation to thetray 18, allowing the tray to tilt and cause a contained supply ofcalcium carbid to be emptied into hopper 8 and the water in tank 5.Auxiliary hopper 17, which-normally depends upon the hook 22 and tray 18for its support in an upright position, is now freed from this device,but tilting of hopper 17 is ei'ectively prevented by the position ofbell 37 directly over rod 21. The gas generated from the calcium carbidsup plied from the tray is suflicient' to raise 'the bell 37, which bellin rising, releases the rod 21. The auxiliary hopper 17 which containsan auxiliary supply of calcium carbid, having been deprived of itssupport by thevrelease of tray 18 from hook 22, is now free to tilt orempty its contents into -the water contained in tank 5. This auxiliarysupply of calcium carbid may-be of any quantity desired, but ispreferably or" suiicient quantity to supply gas for several ours.

Inl supplying calcium carbid to the hopper 8, the cover 3 1s removed,and valve 32- opened to permit the escape of any gas contained withinthe'supply pipes. Upon the l lescape of the gas from the pipes thehandle 40 is actuated so as`to open the outlet B8, through which outletany gas contained within the bell may escape. Thereupon the bell 37 maybe removed without danger of encountering contained gas. v

It is clear that changes within the details of construction may be madewithout departing from the spirit and Scope of my invention.

Having thus described my inventiom'what I claim is:-

1. The combination in anV acetylene generator, of a main carbid supplyhopper, an emergency hopper positionedin said main hopper and adapted tocontain an auxiliary supply of calcium carbid, said emergency hopperpivoted out of equilibrium, an emergency tray also adapted to support acharge of carbid hinged to said emergency hopper and positioned tonormally support the emergency hopper in equilibrium, a bent wirepositioned to normally support the emergency tray and thereby thehopper, and means for releasing the bent wire from such supportingrelation with the emergency tray land hopper, substantially asdescribed.

`tioned to normally support the emergency tray and thereby the hopper,means for releasing tlie bent wire from supporting relation with thetray to allow the tray to dump its charge of calcium carbid into thegenerator, whereby thebell may ascend from engagement with the emergencyhopper, substantially as described.

3. The combination in an acetylene generator, of a carbid supply hopper,a bell, an emergency hopper carried by said carbid supply hopper, anemergency tray carried by the emergency hopper, said emergency hopperpivoted in the carbid hopper out of equilibrium and normally held inequilibrium by a hook in engagement with the emergency tray, a hookadapted to normally support said emergency tray and thereby saidemergency hopper, a balancing rod secured to said emergency hopper andadapted to support the emergency hopper in equilibrium after thewithdrawal ot the hook from supporting relation with the emergency trayby engagement with the bell when the bell is at its lowest position,whereby a charge of carbid is dumped into the carbidsupply' hopper uponthe raising of the belly occasioned by the generation of gas from carbiddumped from the emergency tray, and means for releasing the hook fromsupporting relation with the emergency tray, substantially as described.

GEORGEL. FREETO.

Witnesses:

GUY A. BECK, ERNEST DARNALL.

